Sociocultural Perspective Essay

The benefits of an emergent curriculum are as follows: 1. The emergent curriculum is responsive to children’s needs and draws on their strengths and interests. Children have an opportunity to focus on a topic that interests them; this helps them to construct knowledge at a deeper level and develop a love of learning (Jones, 2012). 2. The emergent curriculum acknowledges each child’s individuality and empowers them to become part of the planning process.

“Qualification requirements.. mean greater individual care and attention for your child” (NQS quality area 4). Educators need the knowledge provided by other educators and theorists to understand the effectiveness, appropriateness and context in which to use teaching practices and styles. They need to be able to understand and have the ability to use strategies such as ‘modelling and demonstrating, open questioning, speculating, explaining, engaging in shared thinking and problem solving to extend children’s thinking and learning” (DEEWR 2009 p. 15). For example Vygotsky’s theory on play, that talks of the importance using play as a fundamental tool to create experiences the children can learn from as it “provides opportunities for children to learn as they discover, create, improvise and imagine” (DEEWR 2009 p.15). Or other teachers recording and evaluating their own teaching and making it public so others can learn from their mistakes and success.

(n.d.) Providing this learning theory in a child’s development will provide a foundation of relationship skills that will enhance how a child interacts with those who they are around. When a child has the skill of social competence, they will understand when it is necessary to interact with others. It has been researched by Hardwoods how social development can determine the effects of how children preform in school as far as academic success, and school readiness. Hardwoods stated in his research findings that, “Children’s early social emotional development is important to their lifelong learning, academic success, and school readiness.” (Harewood, T. N. (2016). For example, a child who is experiencing the different types of social interaction through their early years of development is more likely to be more successful in school activities than children who aren’t experiencing any type of social interaction.

This aspect is shown in my belief that each child’s own behaviour, actions and knowledge are influenced through social interactions with the world and people around them. The interactions and relationships help promote a child’s development of communication, cognitive and motor skills (MacNaughton and Williams, 2008). Children are able to learn important social behaviours that are needed in life, through playing with others and the development of relationships with adults and other children. Gonzalez-Mena (2011), suggests that during the early childhood years, children are able to learn key social skills that will impact their understanding of how to act in society. For example, children learn how to share, cooperate and respect others, and their belongings though social interaction.

Play is a primary learning tool that allows children to develop, and is the key pedagogy used by early childhood educators to support and enhance development (DEEWR, 2009). These principles acknowledge the child as a capable, resourceful learner who plays a critical role in directing their own play (Kearns, 2010). Curriculum for infants and toddlers should be open ended and flexible so as to enable changes initiated by the children. When educators value play’s ability to encourage and combine a wide range of young children’s intellectual, physical, social and creative abilities, they follow the EYLF aims of empowering children to view themselves as competent and resilient learners (DEEWR, 2009). The framework is underpinned by the principles that play is a critical tool in promoting learning, children as producers of their own learning and educators as facilitators (Kearns, 2010).

Social development refers to learning values. This can be shown by a childs knowledge as well as how they relate to others and their family (Trawick-Smith, 2014). Through these relationships a child is able to cultivate an awareness of social values, as well as what is expected of them socially. (Cassidy, Parke, Butkovsky, & Braungart, 1992).Psychological development or developmental psychology is the development of a child, cognitively, emotionally, intellectually and socially from childhood to old age. (Cassidy, Parke, Butkovsky, & Braungart, 1992).

Through play children are able to try out different ways to handle and address stressful or hurtful situations and stand strong when facing challenging situations. Play enhances children’s memories and attention spans and allows children to connect their ideas into realities and realities into deeper understandings. Play supports children’s language development by improving their verbalization and receptive/expressive vocabularies. Using preschool curricula to build school- and life-related skills is a great practice as long as it is developmentally

Theories abound about the learning process. Learning can occur in all different environments but what is it that truly fosters cognitive development? Lev Vygotsky theorised that children’s cognitive development is explicitly related to language and social interaction, and that through social interaction, children learn how to use language and experience the world as a member of their specific culture. In examining Vygotsky’s theories it is important as a future teacher to consider the implications of his ideas in my own teaching. I considered Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development.

It discusses how children are born with that needs to connect with individuals around them. Teachers and providers create positive relationship with children from birth through the early years. The foundation for that healthy social and emotional development because it affects her children see the world, express themselves, manages their emotions, in establishing a positive relationship with others. There were several areas of development that included social interactions that focus on the relationship that we share and include relationship with adults and peers. Emotional awareness recognized and understands your feelings and actions of other people, and self-regulation where you have that ability to express your thoughts, feelings, and behavior in a socially appropriate way.

Children are able to learn positive behaviours though watching interactions between teachers and other children. According to Hyson and Taylor (2011), this strategy works, since children are more likely to develop prosocial behaviour through imitation. An example of prosocial behaviour could be when a teacher is consistently generous and caring towards the children. Children are more likely going to copy this behaviour when observing. Another strategy to promote prosocial behaviour which can be used by teachers is through building a secure relationship with children.